Space suit monitors Canadian astronaut's health and fitness

Imagine not having to worry about the exact skin placement of an electrode or accelerometer?! Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is wearing the Hexoskin embedded sensored-shirt that can measure heart-rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels and temperature while orbiting the earth on the International Space Station.

Could a wearable like the Bio-Monitor help physical activity monitoring and #mhealth studies for validation against mobile apps or other wearables? I would be really interested in seeing some of the validation studies to see the accuracy compared to other devices or tests.

Via Canadian Space Agency & Hexoskin

How it works

• The wearable technology system is designed to be as comfortable as a typical snug shirt. The shirt has adjustable straps to position small metal sensors against the skin in order to get a good reading 

• If an astronaut is about to exercise, he or she can use a tablet application to specify the type of activity and see his or her vital signs throughout the session.

• Once finished, the astronaut disconnects the battery pack and plugs it into a base, which downloads the data to Earth through the Station's communications system for scientific analysis.

Click here to read more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

Moov Personalized Virtual Fitness Trainer Wearable @Getmoov

Getting feedback on your running form or any other athletic skill used to only come from a personal coach watching you. With mobile devices and apps and the incredible growth of wearable technology, coaching is vastly different than it was even 5 years ago.

Moov is fitness tracker that pairs with your mobile device and syncs data when in range, but also stores data if you're not (a huge advantage) and similar to Polar, Suunto, and Sensoria's units.

Moov HR is their latest addition to the fitness tracking and virtual training category that states it's the first intense heart rate tracking program that responds to your heart rate output and encourages you or cautions you. Apparently pro sports teams are using this system to monitor workloads, workouts, and stats. You can either get the HR chest strap (HR Burn) or head band (HR Sweat).

According to their in-house field testing of the accuracy of their headband heart-rate monitor system it is very comparable to an actual EKG

From $59.99 to $99.99 both seem very reasonable for their price points and features.

Click here to see more stories about virtual trainers featured on ExerGame Lab

Click here to read more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

Polar Enables Heart Rate Data On GoPro Videos (iDance)

Wouldn't it be great to have HD GoPro video with actual heart rate data without having to combine them all in post editing? Well now with the Polar V800 and the current GoPro series, your wish just came true! Voila!

I can only imagine what some of my heart-rate data would look like with accompanying video while playing exergames.
Polar Enables Heart Rate Data To Be Overlaid On GoPro Videos Of Their Sports Adventures:

Here is the link to my PhD exergame research defense:

Stephen Yang 2012 PhD defense - Comparing MVPA, EE, RPE, & Enjoyment in Adolescents Playing Exergames from Stephen P. Yang, Ph.D.

Now imagine if we had GoPro, iDance, and HR data all be recorded at the same time seamlessly to link in also all the step data and feedback simultaneously.

'via Blog this'

Click here to read more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

CES 2017 - Health, Fitness & Wellness Technology - Intel & New Balance RunIQ (part 4)

I spent a good amount of time at the Intel & New Balance booth at CES 2017 looking over their

collaboration in producing the RunIQ system for both the bike and runner. They had parallel demos going on and had a great transparent display to show real-time stats of heart-rate, RPM, power, cadence, distance, and time.

Now this was by no means the only fitness tracker on display at CES but this was probably the best explained and demonstrated that I saw.  Check out the video I captured to see the real-time data displayed.

We had this discussion in class about the utility of such devices, however some still don' t think that technology will replace humans. They will assimilate!

Click here to read more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

PhD Defense: Comparing MVPA, EE, RPE, & Enjoyment in Adolescents Playing Exergames

A couple of weeks ago I defended my dissertation titled: "Comparing MVPA, Duration, EE, RPE & Enjoyment of Adolescents Playing Exergames". I would like to thank everyone who has been so helpful and instrumental in getting me to this point, especially my Committee Chair Dr. Melissa Bopp; Committee Members:  Dr. Linda Caldwell, Dr. R. Scott Kretchmar, Dr. Karl Newell; and Dr. John Challis (former Grad Coordinator) all of Penn State University; PSU & SUNY Cortland Faculty and Staff; the Cortland YMCA staff and participants, and of course my wonderful and loving family. Some of the details have been omitted as the separate papers are in the process of being submitted to separate journals but it gives you a rough estimate of what I was investigating. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Click here to explore more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving research studies. 

Fitness Monitoring for the Classroom

New Fitness Monitoring for the Classroom:
Interactive Health Technologies announced that it was partnering with Sony to provide the NFC Dynamic Tag (FeliCa Plug) in the Spirit System, which is now available to schools across America.

With this fitness monitoring is streamlined with a classroom management system for teachers, and in turn enhances the overall PE experience with students. From a simple tap of a Spirit Heart Rate Monitor student information can be automatically transferred to and tracked on the Spirit System through NFC/FeliCa contractless communication. The system effectively measures each student’s cardio activity allowing educators to evaluate the student’s physical activity and endurance.
“The crisis of childhood obesity we collectively face in our nation demands innovative, new solutions,” says Jen Ohlson, Founder of Interactive Health Technologies. The IHT Spirit System with Sony NFC Dynamic Tag uses technology to motivate children to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime, a PE and fitness model for the 21st Century.”

Interactive Health Technologies Official Website
Sony FeliCa Official Website

It's great to see big groups start to put solutions together for NFC and other health IT initiatives, however I do see problems with the traditional HRM as it is uncomfortable to wear all day. I am really pleased to see the many wrist watch, ring and other devices out there that can be worn all day much more unobtrusively.

Scosche myTREK Wireless Pulse monitor

Scosche myTREK Wireless Pulse monitor for iPod and iPhone is one of the newest activity monitors on the market but this one is not relying just on accelerometer data but going back to heart rate monitoring, except this time it is a forearm worn device instead of a chest strap. I am very interested in seeing how the built-in accelerometer filters into total activity energy expenditure. That fact alone is a potential limitation of other arm-worn devices. Price $129.99

WIBC (Wouldn't It Be Cool)- If they could leverage this technology and use a pc driven receiver to monitor more than one device at a time, we might have a killer app/ tech solution for monitoring fitness in schools and gyms (think Suunto, Activio, Polar, Zwphyr, and Ekho's group monitoring solutions).



Click here to explore more of ExerGame Lab's archived posts involving activity monitors.

[Via Kinetic Shift]

Apple Wants Your Heart(beat)

Forget step counts using the accelerometer, the iPhone is about to become much more of a medical device if Apple gets the FDA & FCC's to approve its external heart-rate (HR) monitoring peripherals to feed into the iPhone. Although another device has already been cleared to accept HR via the Raisin Health Monitor, according to the USPTO application the device will be able to identify HR, the individual user, and even mood. Skip the mood ring, bring on the iPohone! 

Apple Wants to Know You By Your Heartbeat [Apple]: "

Using the detected signals, the electronic device can identify or authenticate the user and perform an operation based on the identity of the user. In some embodiments, the electronic device can determine the user's mood from the cardiac signals and provide data related to the user's mood.

[Via  USPTO via UnwiredView via AppleInsider] More »

Exegames are more demanding physically and motivating to play than sedentary games (Study)

Motivation and Physiologic Responses of Playing a Physically Interactive Video Game Relative to a Sedentary Alternative in Children

Amanda L. Penko  and Jacob E. Barkley

Background  

While there is emerging research outlining the physiologic cost of the physically interactive Nintendo Wii, there are no evaluations of the relative reinforcing value (RRV) of the Wii versus a sedentary alternative.

Purpose  

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the physiologic cost, RRV, and liking of playing Wii Sports Boxing (Wii) versus a traditional sedentary video game (SVG) in 11 lean and 13 overweight/obese 8- to 12-year-old children.

Methods  

Heart rate (HR) and VO2 were assessed during rest, treadmill walking, and playing an SVG and Wii using a counterbalance design. Liking was assessed during treadmill walking and video game play. RRV was assessed for Wii versus SVG.

Results  

Average HR, VO2, and liking were significantly greater for Nintendo Wii (p ≤ 0.001 for all) than all other conditions. Lean children displayed a greater (p < 0.001) peak responding for access to Wii relative to the SVG while overweight/obese children did not (p ≥ 0.16).

Conclusion  

Wii was a well-liked activity of greater physiologic intensity than both the SVG and treadmill walking. Lean children were more motivated while overweight/obese children were equally as motivated to play Wii relative to the SVG.

Heart Burn – Scaling the Playing Field

Heart Burn is a research paper and project that demonstrates heart-rate scaling on a exergame bike project by a Queen’s University and UVIC research group.

Problem: When two players are playing cycling games where the speed of the cycling is tied to the speed of the game vehicle or person (truck, car, bike, etc..), the player who is more fit will always have an advantage over the less-fit player.

Solution: Using logarithmic scaling of heart-rate response while playing, they were able to show two players of different fitness levels in a close competition using recumbent bikes hooked via the internet.

My Question: If the scaling is applied using their 3 levels: base performance of target heart-rate, scale logarithmically, add nimbleness factor…could it be possible for a HIGHLY trained cyclist to always dominate because her/his fitness level (VO2 Max) and mechanical efficiency will enable her/him to always win; especially given the results they reported of when players are of similar levels of fitness, the scaling was less effective.

Heart Burn from tstach on Vimeo.

Citation:

Stach, T., Graham, T. C., Yim, J., and Rhodes, R. E. 2009. Heart rate control of exercise video games. In Proceedings of Graphics interface 2009 (Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, May 25 - 27, 2009). ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, vol. 324. Canadian Information Processing Society, Toronto, Ont., Canada, 125-132.

Exercise video games combine entertainment and physical movement in an effort to encourage people to be more physically active. Multiplayer exercise games take advantage of the motivating aspects of group activity by allowing people to exercise together. However, people of significantly different fitness levels can have a hard time playing together, as large differences in performance can be demotivating. To address this problem, we present heart rate scaling, a mechanism where players' in-game performance is based on their effort relative to their fitness level. Specifically, heart rate monitoring is used to scale performance relative to how closely a person adheres to his/her target heart rate zone. We demonstrate that heart rate scaling reduces the performance gap between people of different fitness levels, and that the scaling mechanism does not significantly affect engagement during gameplay.

For more information on other exergame bike projects and products, be sure to check the Bike link in this blog archive. The Brain Bike also just started shipping so check back for more details.

If you need more information on the research and partnerships being created in the ExerGame Lab, please contact Stephen Yang at exergamelab at gmail dot com.

Technorati code: V7E8BDYCT2D8

BrainBike XG for Stronger Mind & Body

Exergame Fitness USA just announced the release of the BrainBike XG which brings together a high-end recumbent bike loaded with a pc, Gamercize's "patented response technology", and brain training software by NeuroActive. Essentially you will need to pedal to play any of the brain-training games (via arm supported mouse table) that works on 16 different brain functions (processing speed, selective attention, math skills, and visuo-spatial skills to name a few). It does not appear to be a speed-based setup such as the typical GameBikes and Exerbikes, rather it is a form of movement-mediated gaming (MMG). In other words, you have to move to play the games. The price range will likely be out of range for most homeowners but for those schools and gyms looking to combine physical and neuroplasticity activities - the BrainBike could be a solution. I'm not sure if they're looking to add games that are related to the intensity and speed of the cycler, but lots of other groups have tried.... (Pantometrics, VCycle, Espresso, Electronic Sports Dogfight, etc.. - if you have any other examples please send them to me at (exergamelab at gmail dot com).

And here is the rest of it.

Wii Vitality Sensor Take The Pulse of The Nation (E3 2009)

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At E3 in L.A., Nintendo unveiled their new health egame / fitness game/ health monitoring application. No big news about games, but I would guess this strategy will compliment the new Wii Fit Plus and future apps in Nintendo’s arsenal. It makes sense in terms of providing more health information to the user and if only the data was portable and secure enough to be put on an EHR (Electronic Health Record). BTW – Google and Microsoft are already really active in providing EHR solutions and it wouldn’t surprise me if Nintendo didn’t already have a network in place and providing vital information to health networks and providers.

Click here to see more information on the Wii Fit Plus

Click here to see more information from E3 2009

[Image Via Gizmodo, ]

Can games like 'Wii Fit' really work it?

I was contacted by Kim Painter, Senior Health Columnist for USA Today, for comments on how effective exergames are for cardiovascular benefits and overall health. We had a great discussion and here is the article that was just posted online today.

But games that are more demanding, more interactive or both are on the way or already available, says Stephen Yang, assistant professor of physical education at the State University of New York-Cortland. For addictive, calorie-burning fun, Yang recommends Eye Toy Kinetic (for PlayStation2), a workout game that points a camera at the user to track movements and provide instant feedback.

He also likes tween favorite Dance Dance Revolution (for various game systems), which is not marketed as an exercise game but fits the bill. And he directs parents to Gamercize, a British import that connects to any video game system — and keeps it running only as long as the user keeps moving on a mini-bike or step machine.

The future will bring games that track heart rates and keep exercisers working at a challenging but safe pace, he says. Virtual group workouts, with participants connected online to a live coach, will happen, too, he says.

But the games that work best, Yang says, will be the ones that are the most fun.

2008 PE Mini-Conference (Wrap-Up)

The 2008 SUNY Cortland PE Mini-Conference went really well thanks to the many students, faculty, and staff that helped to organize and run the workshops. Thank you to my students Chris Mekelburg, Jake Weaver, and CarolAnn Samolduski, and Matt Minnis for preparing activities and handouts for all session participants. I would also like to thank Richard Coshott (Gamercize, UK), Dan Botwick (Wild Planet Entertainment, Inc.), and Aaron Hart (Sportime) for their generous support in providing the equipment used during this workshop.

miCoach is miPhone

Samsung's fittest addition to the mobile market is a slider device that not only has integrated fitness software on board, but also comes with a heart rate monitor and stride sensor (pedometer?). The miCoach was produced in conjunction with Adidas. Before going for a run with the F110 miCoach

..."Attach the heart rate monitor to your chest and stride sensor to your running shoe laces, and the phone will connect and register with them automatically. You can view your heart rate and other details onscreen in neat graphics while you're running."

I'm hoping this phone has some of the ubiquitous computing options especially with GPS and social networking capabilities like some other recent mobile devices featured earlier (au Smart Sports, Flaik, Bones in Motion, Loopt, Motion Based, PerDiemco, RealPlay, MobiPad, WiiRider, WayFinder Active ). I hope it is easy to wash and is somewhat water resistant especially if it's going to be worn while running.

[Via Picture House]

Samba (Super Accelerated Motion and Body Activity)

Chanda Dasgupta and his fellow grad students in MS Human-Computer Interaction, Learning by Design Lab
at the Georgia Institute of Technology put this idea overview of integrating a heart rate monitor, accelerometer into a game. They call it SAMBA (Super Accelerated Motion and Body Activity) because it encourages and rewards children for being active throughout the day. More to come...
Although there was no proof of concept or game developed, the idea of Samba and some of their other solutions for combating childhood obesity is commendable.